Effectiveness of mindfulness‐based interventions on anxiety for children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
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Aim: This paper aims to investigate the extent to which mindfulness‐based interventions serve to reduce anxiety in children and adolescents. A heterogeneous sample was used, including clinical and non‐clinical population. Methods: A literature search of controlled intervention studies published up to December 31, 2016, was carried out in PubMed, Lilacs, Cochrane, Embase, PsycInfo, Opengrey and Teseo databases. The effect size was calculated by Cohen's d. The Cochran Q statistic and the I 2 index were used for the study of heterogeneity. An analysis was conducted using the random effects model. Results: 829 articles were identified, of which 18 were finally selected. Of these, only three had statistically significant effect sizes. The overall combined result obtained was .013, but it did not result statistically significant (CI95% [−.102, .128].) The Q statistic was statistically significant (Q [18] = 28.497, P = . 39) and the I 2 index was 40.34%, indicating a moderate heterogeneity. Conclusions: This meta‐analysis did not obtain statistically significant results that could provide conclusions. In general, the studies analysed are small, of low power and have a marked heterogeneity, which implies that the findings are provisional and need to be supported by more robust studies. Although it cannot be ruled out that mindfulness‐based interventions are not effective in the infant‐juvenile population, it is also possible that this effect could not be detected due to the limited number of available studies. Larger investigations are needed, with sufficient statistical power and designs that control the variables potentially moderating, to establish clear conclusions.
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Previous systematic reviews of MBSR, MBCT, and ACT suggest significant greater effects in comparison to usual care and comparable effects to CBT for patients with manifest anxiety disorders.
“For patients with manifest anxiety disorders, previous systematic reviews of MBSR, MBCT, and ACT with and without meta-analysis suggest significant greater effects in comparison to usual care and comparable effects to CBT but used outdated methodology or focused on single anxiety disorders, mixed anxiety/obsessive–compulsive and depressive syndromes, or elderly patients/children21–26.”
From A systematic review and meta-analysis of acceptance- and mindfulness-based interventions for DSM-5 anxiety disorders (2021) · cites this paper as [24]
Recent reviews of MBPs for children and adolescents have mixed findings.
“However, recent reviews of MBPs for children and adolescents have mixed findings [49,56,293].”
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- Authors
- Ruiz‐Íñiguez, R., Santed Germán, M. Á., Burgos‐Julián, F. A., Díaz‐Silveira, C., & Carralero Montero, A.
- Affiliations
- Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (ES)
- Faculty of Psychology Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) Madrid Spain
- Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (ES)
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Nursing Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (UAH) Madrid Spain
- Venue
- Early Intervention in Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-07-09
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 263-274
- ISSN
- 1751-7885 (ISSN-L)
- 1751-7893
- OpenAlex
- W2959535410
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 0.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- public-domain
- onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
- Locations
- Early Intervention in Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BURJC Digital (King Juan Carlos University) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- Hispana (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- mindfulness-based interventions, anxiety, children, adolescents, treatment effectiveness, heterogeneity of study results
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Anxiety, Child, Child, Preschool, Humans, Mindfulness
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